Public safety worry for riverside camps

Colac Otway farmers and landowners are concerned about how allowing camping on Crown land river frontages could impact public safety and water quality. Consultation is currently open on proposed state regulations that would allow people to camp on Crown river frontages that are licenced to private landholders from September 2021. Anyone can currently access these areas to walk and hike, fish, birdwatch or picnic without the landowner’s knowledge or permission, but camping has been illegal. Carlisle River dairy farmer Matt Reid and his wife Alli have about four kilometres of Gellibrand River frontage on their 600-hectare property. Matt said he was concerned about the safety risks of allowing and encouraging people to access properties and farms without the landowner’s knowledge. Buy the Colac Herald print edition, which has full coverage of all the region’s news and sport. Where To Buy “We love camping ourselves, and you wouldn’t want to deny anyone from the experience. It’s not an issue with people camping, it’s more about the safety of people coming on your property,” he said. “We take (safety) really seriously, if you’re a contractor coming on here, you have to be inducted to understand where the no-go zones are, the high-risk areas, where any chemicals are being sprayed. “To get to somewhere where you’re going to camp, you’re going to have to traverse through the farm, you’re not going to be able to drive on the Crown land because it’s all planted out in trees. “So people having unlimited access removes our ability to warn them as to where the dangers may be. “River frontages are fantastic places for things like blackberries to grow, so as landholders we have to make sure they’re under control; so what happens if we’ve gone through and sprayed, and Mr Camper who hasn’t asked permission goes and eats them, who is liable?” Colac United Dairyfarmers Victoria branch president Peter Delahunty said campers should have to notify farmers if they wanted to pass through their property to camp. “I don’t think people should be able to just wander on without our permission,” he said. “We may have cattle in that paddock, there could be heifers with a bull; who is responsible if they get knocked over by a bull? “Unless they go to the farmer first, they might say ‘I want to go over here’ and the farmer could say, ‘well you can’t go through that paddock because there’s a bull, go this way’. “There just needs to be some common sense in it I think.” Otways water campaigner, property owner and planning lawyer Neil Longmore said there appeared to be a disconnect between the government’s expectations for landowners and the public in water catchment areas. “There was a period where the State Government made it very strict about development in water catchments,” he said. “That’s the issue, the planning, it’s one of these planning issues in the water catchments where people can’t do what they want with their own land, but here’s another group (campers) who are being told go for it. “They’re saying in the proposed regulations something about toilets, but I can’t see many campers setting up their own toilets and taking it all away. “I think the main thing is, I’m seeing a big disconnect between two government policies; one is that it’s important to look after water quality for urban water consumers, and the other is that it’s good for people to go camping along rivers.” Matt said he hoped people would continue to speak with farmers before accessing their properties to reach the best outcome for both stakeholders. “If you have people wandering around that you potentially don’t know are there, that’s not a safe way to go about being on a property,” he said. “Most people are good people and come and ask, we don’t have anyone just waltz in, that’s not happening on our place, to give people an excuse to not use common decency is a dangerous thing.”